On questionable motives

Following up on my earlier post, it's now official: with a "pass" that deserves to live in infamy, the Libs have effectively eliminated any chance of holding the Cons to account for declaring their desire for secrecy to override Parliamentary supremacy. But I have to wonder whether the commentary so far is accurate in its assessment of the Libs' motives.

Granted, the move is consistent with the Libs' track record of rolling over every time they're pressed by the Cons. And that probably explains why words like "spineless jellyfish" and "meaningless empty puppets" are being tossed around.

But this time, they never actually faced any particular pressure from outside forces. They're in a better relative position in the polls than they've been for some time, meaning that they have less reason to fear an election than usual. And the Cons didn't even bother saying much of anything about either Bill Siksay's motion or the Libs' delay tactic.

Yet despite the fact that nobody was actually testing for any trace of a backbone, the Libs nonetheless chose on their own to make it harder for Parliament to hold a secretive executive to account.

Now, that might simply be a matter of force of habit. But might it instead be a matter of the Libs counting their own electoral chickens before they're hatched, and figuring that the ability to shield political staffers from democratic accountability might might prove useful in some future stay in government?